Seven Year Ache
by sdbubbles
Summary: "You act like you were just born tonight; face down in a memory but feelin' alright. So who does your past belong today? Baby, you don't say nothing when you're feelin' this way." Michael's in the pub covering up his misery with drinks and flirting, and Serena is determined to get to the bottom of his strange mood.


**A/N: So I wrote this ages ago, as a surprise for my lovely friend Brooke, and completely forgot to upload it! Sorry! The song here is "Seven Year Ache," originally sung by Rosanne Cash, but Trisha Yearwood's version is awesome too :)**

**Sarah x**

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_You act like you were just born tonight  
Face down in a memory but feeling alright  
So who does your past belong to today?  
Baby, you don't say nothing when you're feeling this way_

Serena watched him carefully as she sat at the other other end of the bar with Malick and Ric. He was flirting with a massive grin, but she saw right through it as he chatted up a woman who was blatantly out of his league. "Serena," she heard Malick say. "We're gonna have to go home. I've got Jake and Ric's on the early shift tomorrow."

She smiled at them and bade them goodnight and returned her attention to her American friend. She carefully made her way towards him, pulling up a stool beside him. "Hey," she said pointedly.

"Hey, Rena," he smirked. He was about to give her more cheek until she silenced him with a raised eyebrow and a glare. She looked at the two women, silently telling them to leave.

"So," Serena said. "What's your problem tonight? And I think you've have quite enough of _that_," she added, taking his whisky glass from his hands before it touched his lips.

"Me? No problem. Life is just b-e-a-utiful," he retorted; she heard the hurt sarcasm in his tone, but she didn't really expect him to tell her why he was miserable. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn't going to willingly talk to her when he was acting like such a juvenile prat.

"No, Michael, life's a bitch and we all know it," she replied. He looked around, obviously surprised at her bluntness, and his face broke into a grin she didn't like. It wasn't a nice smile. It wasn't a good look. It didn't suit him. There was something behind it she didn't like; it was making her uneasy.

"Ain't it just," he spat, looking around to see the two young women he'd been with playing darts with another guy.

_The girls in the bars thinking, "Who is this guy?"_  
_But they don't think nothing when they're telling you lies_  
_You look so careless when they're shooting that bull_  
_Don't you know heartaches are heroes when their pockets are full?_

They looked back at him with sickly sweet smiles, and Serena was inwardly disgusted at their behaviour. His too. Crawling down into the pub rather than face whatever was bothering him. He grinned at them and Serena rolled her eyes, bored already with the ridiculous, pathetic flirting. "They're tapping you for drinks, you idiot," she informed him crassly.

"They're not!" he protested. "They're nice girls!"

"What do you actually know about them?" Serena challenged.

"The brunette's got a ten week old baby," he replied immediately. Serena snorted, looking the skinny woman up and down. "What?!" he demanded.

"Call me a cynic, but there is no way in hell she's just had a baby ten weeks ago," Serena explained. "Look at her. There's no way. Like hell. It's not the first time a woman's played that one for free drinks," she told him. Realisation dawned on his face, and the charming smile turned into a look of distaste. "Like I said, they're tapping you for drinks. Nobody is easier to tap than a man with a lot of money and nobody to spend it on."

He looked around at her, finally meeting her eyes. "What's up?" she sighed.

_Tell me you're trying to cure a seven-year ache_  
_See what else your old heart can take_  
_The boys say, "When is he gonna give us some room?"_  
_The girls say, "God, I hope he comes back soon."_

"Nothing," he answered. She didn't believe him. There was something unnervingly false about his cheeriness.

"So you're here because of nothing?" she asked sceptically. "You're here winding all the guys up by flirting with the two prettiest girls in the bar like some cowboy Casanova because you're happy, are you?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yep," he said happily. She still wasn't buying it.

"I know you now, Michael," she warned him. "If you were happy, you'd be with friends, not randomers who are only after a few free drinks." She watched him shrug his shoulders and shook her head to herself. When was he ever going to learn? "You're just breaking your own heart now."

"Profound," he sneered. "For you, anyway."

"Charming," she retorted sarcastically, her tone caustic and harsh, hoping it would get some common sense into him. He tried to take his glass back but she snatched it away from him; alcohol was the last thing a miserable man needed.

_Everybody's talking but you don't hear a thing_  
_You're still uptown on your downhill swing_  
_Boulevard's empty, why don't you come around?_  
_Baby, what is so great about sleeping downtown?_

"Want another?" the barmaid asked. Michael wasn't listening; he was too intent on trying to out-glare Serena, but she knew her looks could make him cower. "Want another, darling?" she asked louder.

"No, he doesn't," Serena answered for him, not taking her stare away from Michael.

"Better do as she says," the young redheaded barmaid quipped before she walked away to see to three men who had just walked in.

"You listen to me, Spence," Serena ordered him. He looked a little taken aback at being addressed with his surname. "I don't know what's going on but sitting in the bar half-cut with the potential to get yourself in bother isn't going to help anything, is it?!"

"Makes me feel better," he replied. Serena laughed, torn between friendship and frustration.

"If I had a pound for every time I've heard that..." she trailed away.

"I guess you'd be a very wealthy woman," he finished for her. She had had enough of this. Apart from anything else, Michael's bad attitude got a hundred times worse when he was like this, and she didn't want to have to discipline him, and she definitely did not want Hanssen having to. "I'm fine," he reasserted the lie he was trying to convince himself was true.

"No, you're not," she contradicted him. "Go home."

"Can't drive," he made an excuse.

"I'll drive you. I've only had one glass of wine."

"I don't want to go home," he admitted, getting off his stool and taking the set of darts from the skinny brunette with a cocky smile.

"Well, I fail to see what's so fun about staying round here," she argued, but he completely ignored her.

Serena put her head in her hands for a moment. She would never admit it to him, but he was her friend, and she didn't like seeing him pretending to be happy when he so obviously – to her, anyway – was far from it.

She walked up behind him and snarled into his ear, "Fine. Get drunk. Hop into bed with a random girl. Just don't expect me to sympathise when you're on AAU tomorrow morning with a raging hangover and a head full of regrets."

_Splitting your dice to be someone you're not_  
_You say you're looking for something you might've forgot_  
_Don't bother calling to say you're leaving alone_  
_'Cause there's a fool on every corner when you're trying to get home_

As she glared at him, she found that she was _so_ irritated by his arrogance and bad attitude. Couldn't he see she was trying to help him? Couldn't he see she was trying, for once, to be a good friend? She sighed to herself and left him to it. As she went around the other end of the bar and started to put her coat on, he started throwing darts, barely even hitting the board. She didn't want to leave him here to make any stupid mistakes, but what else could she do?

He was pretending to be the cocky tosser. The man who cared for nothing and never thought back. But Serena saw past what those girls couldn't see in him. That there was something eating at him today; he had been tetchy even this morning on AAU. He wasn't here looking for a good time. He was here looking for a distraction.

He looked around and met her eyes. "Don't call me at midnight saying you went home alone," she called. "You'll end up in bed with some gullible woman or another," she added, picking up her bag and turning away. He had left her with no other choice, really.

"No," she heard him call back. "No, Serena, wait up!"

She turned on her heel and found him approaching her and putting his coat on. She smiled. So he wasn't such an idiot after all.

_Just tell 'em you're trying to cure a seven-year ache_  
_See what else your old heart can take_  
_The boys say, "When is he gonna give us some room?"_  
_The girls say, "God, I hope he comes back soon."_

Serena noticed those two women watching him leave them mournfully, while the other man seemed rather glad to see the back of him.

Michael threw an arm around Serena's shoulders, and she could tell it was an effort to keep up the carefree act he was playing. They opened the doors together, stepping out into the quite chilly night air. "So, are you going to tell me why you're being such a pain today?" she asked.

"Part of my charm," he smiled.

"Michael," she groaned. "Look, if it's to do with Annalese or the kids, I might, God forbid, actually understand. My marriage didn't end very well, and bringing up Eleanor was never a walk in the park," she admitted, receiving a look of mild surprise from Michael. "So, you know, if you need to talk..."

"I don't need to talk," he instantly answered.

"Better than setting yourself up for regrets," she reminded him as she unlocked her car. They got in and she let the engine tick over rather than try and run it cold. She was pretty sure there was something wrong with the engine, actually; it was getting worse and worse at starting in the cold.

_Tell me you're trying to cure a seven-year ache_  
_See what else your old heart can take_  
_The boys say, "When is he gonna give us some room?"_  
_The girls say, "God, I hope he comes back soon."_

She drove to his house, and he opened the door. To her surprise, he turned back to her and kissed her cheek. "Thanks," he said. "And, since you actually care, it's seven years today I first cheated on Annalese. Seven years since I blew our marriage apart and we never managed to fix it."

"Ah."

"Seven-year ache," he smiled sadly. "'Night, Rena," he added.

"Goodnight, Michael," she smiled, and drove away, cursing his stupidity. Maybe he had learned a lesson or two after all.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to drop a review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


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